Saturday, May 02, 2009

Peter Green's Wikipedia page says, in part: Peter Green is a PR person for several Australasian acts, most notably Skyhooks, Bic Runga, Split Enz and their alumni, including Crowded House, The Finn Brothers, Neil Finn, Tim Finn, etc. His office maintains the "Frenz of The Enz", encompassing all the Enz alumni, which has also been known as the Crowded House club, but which reverted to its original name following the break-up of the latter. He is held in very high regard by the fans, who greatly appreciate the personal touch he brings his work, and his remarkable commitment, not only to the musicians, but also to the Frenz, maintaining a consistent relationship with them, whether there is artist activity or not. The Frenz of the Enz are known for their long-standing loyalty and commitment to the bands and artists under the Frenz umbrella, and it could be argued that it is largely as a result of Peter Green's work, ensuring that the fans always feel connected to what is going on.

All of which fits nicely with my theory that Mr. Green may just be among the top 5 nicest men in the world (that is a guess; I don't know all the men in the world, so the top five seemed fairly reasonable). Over the last few years I've emailed him a few times with questions--Do I need to be in the fan club to enter the drawing for the signed CD? That sort of thing. And each time, he has responded to my banal correspondence a) quickly, and b) with a level of enthusiastic kindness that is not only rare in general, but altogether unheard of in PR. [Please don't send me hate mail, PR people. I worked in PR. I know what I'm talking about.] In addition to overseeing PR for all of the abovenamed acts and running the Frenz of the Enz site, Peter has a blog and publishes the occasional road diary. He's also quite witty. In a recent round of emails, he mentioned he was going to be boarding a plane in short order. And then he sent an immediate follow-up email with the subject line "what we are wearing on board to avoid swine flu XXXPG". There was no body text, just an attached image of someone in a yellow Hazmat suit.

1. In the context of your work, which bits of minutiae matter most?

On the road (touring) when you do those little things (buying a toaster for the tour bus) or just making someone's day more bearable when they are thousands of miles away from home. PR duties, when you are at your favourite coffee haunt (free plug to the Verandah View at Kalorama) and the person at the table picks up the newspaper and your band is on the front cover and you know it was something you did right the day before. Books--When you start working on the next book and suddenly the words flow, and they feel spot on and you get so vibed you just churn them out and you find it hard to stop. Concerts--recently being part of the Sound Relief show in Melbourne--where two of our acts played to 83,000 people and raised $5 million dollars for the bushfire relief benefit--that feels extra special--being a small cog in a large wheel that seemed to roll so well that day, and punters left feeling they witnessed a very special gig.

2. Which bits matter least?

When I get snappy, it's rare but the odd deadline seems to rush closer and suddenly someone will call wanting to have a chat. Probably because I prefer the chat to the deadline and know I can't do both. Rushing the 'Famous for 16 Minutes' Diary (that extra minute Warhol gave me years ago never seems enough) and sending it off to Deb in America to add to my net ramblings and feeling like I should have made more effort. When Neil Finn asks me someone's name who is heading towards us at an after show or media event and I know the face too but for the life of me can't remember their name. So I try discreetly to find out before their smiling face arrives. It's all small stuff so it doesn't really matter.

3. In the context of your life, what types of minutiae once seemed important, but have since fallen by the wayside? Why?

When friends let us down, even now I pretend it doesn't matter as much as it really does. When I mess up around one of our bands in some small way, and they just shrug it off but it seems to make it even worse. I hate making mistakes around work, but I deal with it now instead of just guilting. Deadlines, mostly around our Rocket Pocket Books--it always seems to take a lot longer to get them finished and printed and delivered. I am calmer at this. After months of work waiting on the new book TRIP to be delivered, I got myself way too excited on the arrival date--a truck arrives with numerous boxes of stock and...we open them--and it's NOT my book. I was cool--started laughing hysterically, a few years back I don't know if hysterical laughter would have been what I would have done.

4. What types of minutiae, if any, have you had to train yourself to pay closer attention to?

Like Kayte Terry I was thinking public image, but after volunteering to be the front half of a horse suit on the Finn Brothers tour I'd say my public image is well and truly shot to pieces. Listening more, talking less is probably the one.

5. Just for kicks -- what are your favorite bits of minutiae (personal, from a book, a piece of music, moment in a movie, etc.)?

Australia with all its golden beaches...so the first smell of the surf after months away from the beach. Certain lines from movie or tv shows like 007 (though Austin Powers has destroyed many of the Bond movies forever...very hard to take them seriously)...any of Joss's great one-liners from 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' and when I come home from a month away on the road and I get cuddled by my boyfriend for the first time, that nice hair smell is good (yikes)! ***Thanks so much, Peter!

And with that, the Old Soul Ink interview series comes to an end, as does the blog. Once I'm situated at the other site (details TBA), I'll post about it here, and then that will be it for new content. (Archives will remain.) Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who read, commented, participated in the interviews, linked. I've met some incredible people, have gotten to know others still better, and I look forward to continuing that in the near future.

Emma mi querida amiga, My heart almost fell when I read that your blog has come to an end. Fortunately, you are not leaving us completely. As always, it is a pleasure reading anything you write.Love,Clementina

Emma Alvarez Gibson

I write copy that hits just the right nerve--be it as simple as a bio or as intensive as a whole new campaign.

Some other things about me: in my quest to pack several lifetimes into one, I have: produced a zine, which sold at a big-name bookstore in West Hollywood; created an online magazine for teenage girls (Lulu Magazine, now defunct); started a theater company; written, produced and performed original theater; written, sung and recorded music with the band Agent Vertigo; and sold my handmade goods via my Etsy shop. I am married to the best man on the planet, with whom I share a delightful 3-year-old boy; I quite enjoy typography and gin; and harbor a fervent desire to a) speak every language in the world and b) move to New Zealand, despite my intense and disproportionately loyal love for the City of Angels.

In No Particular Order: Things To Do Before Shuffling Off

1. Own and live in a big house by the ocean2. Sing in a band3. Tend a prolific garden of my own4. Live in New Zealand5. Publish a novel or book of short stories6. Sing onstage with Neil Finn (preferably the song Nails In My Feet)7. Become fluent in French8. Learn conversational Japanese9. Make more money freelancing than working for The Man10. Visit Paris11. Own a Labrador (this requires owning a yard as well)12. Record music with a band13. Earn a degree in linguistics14. Send spiritual/emotional support regularly to people who are incarcerated for religious beliefs, as well as financial support to their families15. Get really good at practicing peace16. Learn to look my fear of my own anger in the face, and dismantle its power17. Return to Italy and England18. Visit Antarctica19. Hike regularly20. Meet Clint Eastwood21. Be a buyer for a store that sells amazing, beautiful, strange wonders22. Find the haircut that suits me best23. Find and marry a man who is handsome, clever, strong, sensitive, tough, independent, loving, kind, handy, a good cook and treats me like a queen24. Have the bulk of my diet be whole, healthy, organic foods25. Be free from diabetes26. Be free from headaches27. See some of the equipment from Ernest Shackleton's Antarctic voyages28. See (and touch!!) Frank Worsley's notes from the Endurance voyage29. Visit Ireland and sing a traditional song accompanied by musicians in a pub

The Best Parts.

"Given that we can only live a small part of what there is in us--what happens with the rest?" Night Train to Lisbon, Pascal Mercier

"Those who have an orphan's sense of history love history." Divisadero, Michael Ondaatje

"Was this what came from thoughts of time running out and death: that all of sudden you didn't know anymore what you wanted? That you didn't know your own will anymore? That you lost the obvious familiarity with your own wishes? And in this way became strange and a problem to yourself?" Night Train to Lisbon, Pascal Mercier

"Arriving at each new city, the traveler finds again a past of his that he did not know he had: the foreignness of what you no longer are or no longer possess lies in wait for you in foreign, unpossessed places." Invisible Cities, Italo Calvino

"He was thin, like some lost animal, some idea." Anil's Ghost, Michael Ondaatje

"There remained the big envelope. Katie opened it slowly. Inside was a beautiful pink satin heart with lace edges. She sucked in her breath and turned the card over. No name was signed. Who--? Katie stared around the room. And saw Edwin Jones just looking away, the tips of his ears bright pink, as pink as the satin heart. So! Katie John let out her breath. There was a silly prickling around her eyeballs, and she blinked her eyes quickly. No one gave satin hearts to tomboys." Depend on Katie John, Mary Calhoun

"My God, don't they know? This stuff is simulacra of simulacra. A diluted tincture of Ralph Lauren, who had himself diluted the glory days of Brooks Brothers, who themselves had stepped on the product of Jermyn Street and Savile Row, flavoring their ready-to-wear with liberal lashings of polo knit and regimental stripes. But Tommy surely is the null point, the black hole. There must be some Tommy Hilfiger event horizon, beyond which it is impossible to be more derivative, more removed from the source, more devoid of soul. Or so she hopes, and doesn't know, but suspects in her heart that this in fact is what accounts for his long ubiquity." Pattern Recognition, William Gibson

"This was sunstroke or dengue fever or malaria. When they got back to Colombo she would have tests done. 'It's the sun,' Sarath murmured. 'I'll buy you a bigger hat. I'll buy you a bigger hat. I'll buy you a bigger hat.'" Anil's Ghost, Michael Ondaatje

"To be able to part from something, he thought as the train started moving, you had to confront it in a way that created internal distance. You had to turn the unspoken, diffuse self-understanding it had wrapped around you into a clarity that showed what it meant to you. And that meant it had to congeal into something with distinct contours." Night Train to Lisbon, Pascal Mercier

"There is a great history of people being given the wrong book, at some key moment in their lives." Divisadero, Michael Ondaatje